Joey & Ethan

Beth Angerman put her son Joey on the waiting list for KFICCC when she was only nine weeks pregnant, even before her family knew the big news! She had visited the center and loved that it was close to home, but also loved its vibrancy and the transparency she saw in the interactions between parents and staff. “Putting my boys, Joey and Ethan, at KFICCC is the best decision we ever made. It’s a real extension of our family! We love that all of the teachers know our boys, not just their classroom staff.”

Beth works a demanding job and says The Arc has always been there for her family. “We have boys—so we don’t panic when the nurses call about bumps and bruises. But it’s great to know they are watching out for our children.” Beyond day-to-day interactions, the staff advocated for Joey to receive speech therapy in his classroom. “We trusted the staff when they recommended him for an evaluation. And we appreciated them even more when they wouldn’t let go until they secured an IEP for him in kindergarten.” Beth feels her boys are academically well-prepared for the next stage of their life, and she credits KFICCC for accommodating their needs.

Donald

What makes a good employee? Knowledge? Skills? Positive attitude? All of these? Whatever it is, Donald Johnson has it. He’s been working at Ben Lewis Plumbing in Clarksburg for almost three years, as part of a contract between Ben Lewis and The Arc Montgomery County to employ people with disabilities. Donald was one of the first people selected to apply for his position and he was offered the job after passing a skills test.

Donald helps to load and organize 76 trailers filled with plumbing supplies and equipment. Each day, he fulfills parts orders for outgoing jobs and re-sorts unused parts which come back on the trucks. He’s also grown into a peer leader, helping to guide other members of his team. But the thing Donald likes best (in addition to the paycheck, of course!) is the relationship he has with his co-workers. “Just like everyone else, I get a turkey at Thanksgiving and get to have fun at the holiday party.” And just like everyone else, he is held accountable for his work and praised for a job well done. Donald’s just one of the guys working the yard site, and he thinks that’s perfect.

Mary

In 2013, Mary Madison was featured in a story about The Arc Montgomery County’s residential services. Shortly afterward, her support staff received a phone call and the gentleman on the other end said he was Mary’s brother. After some fact checking, Mary’s team learned that she did indeed have an older brother, and he was living in Virginia!

Joe had seen Mary’s picture on The Arc’s website and immediately reached out. He and Mary had been placed into foster care when Mary was about four years old, and communications were cut with their family and with each other. Joe eventually served in the Navy and raised his own family, but all the time he wondered about Mary. Periodically, he would search the internet to see if he could locate her, and then one day, her picture popped up.

Mary’s staff invited Joe to come visit Mary and gradually helped them get reacquainted. The siblings have rekindled their relationship, and Mary relishes the time she spends with Joe and his family. They talk often, with Joe visiting when he can and Mary’s staff occasionally taking her to Virginia to see Joe. For both of them, the family connection is now stronger than ever.

Jason

Three years ago Jason Ordona was living at home with his parents. Anxious to be more independent, he started breaking down barriers by learning to travel around town on the bus and on his bicycle. With support from The Arc’s staff, Jason expanded his knowledge and skills, eventually moving out of his parents’ home and into an apartment with two roommates. But even all of these successes weren’t good enough for Jason; he wanted to live on his own.

Last year The Arc team helped Jason move into his own apartment. He got a job at Wegmans and joins his coworkers after hours for bowling and miniature golf. “I’m a food lover. I love to cook and to try new recipes in my own kitchen.” He also loves that he no longer has to share his food or clean up after other people! Jason spent quite a bit of time with his staff learning not only how to keep his new place tidy, but also how to maintain personal relationships and how to be safe in the community. For him, true independence is no longer a dream, but a reality.

Jillian

As a high school sophomore, Jillian is busy. She spends all day in class, then heads to After All where she can enjoy some down time and engage with her peers. She and her friends might play a quick game on the soccer field, cook up some snacks, or check their social media accounts.

Dao

In addition to working part-time, Dao enjoys activities like bowling with friends. Her support counselors are teaching her to cook and complete other household tasks, looking ahead to the time when Dao will live independently. They are also helping her to build a community support network.

Privacy Policy

What Information Do We Collect?
When you visit our website you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our website.

Personal Information You Choose to Provide
We may request that you voluntarily supply us with personal information, including your email address, postal address, home or work telephone number and other personal information for such purposes as correspondence, placing an order, requesting an estimate, or participating in online surveys.
If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone.

Website Use Information
Similar to other websites, our site may utilize a standard technology called "cookies" (see explanation below, "What Are Cookies?") and web server logs to collect information about how our website is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our website, and the sites visited just before and just after ours. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of this information is associated with you as an individual.

How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us?
Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing service and support and making available other products and services to our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers are developed and managed under our traditional standards designed to safeguard the security and privacy of all personal information provided by our users. You may at any time to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers.

What Are Cookies?
Cookies are a feature of web browser software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a website. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user's web browser on the user's hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user accesses on one web page to simplify subsequent interactions with that website by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user's transactions on related web pages. This makes it easier for a user to move from web page to web page and to complete commercial transactions over the Internet. Cookies should make your online experience easier and more personalized.

How Do We Use Information Collected From Cookies?
We use website browser software tools such as cookies and web server logs to gather information about our website users' browsing activities, in order to constantly improve our website and better serve our users. This information assists us to design and arrange our web pages in the most user-friendly manner and to continually improve our website to better meet the needs of our users and prospective users.
Cookies help us collect important business and technical statistics. The information in the cookies lets us trace the paths followed by users to our website as they move from one page to another. Web server logs allow us to count how many people visit our website and evaluate our website's visitor capacity. We do not use these technologies to capture your individual email address or any personally identifying information about you.

Notice of New Services and Changes
Occasionally, we may use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. As a user of our website, you will be given the opportunity to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers by clicking on a response box when you receive such an offer or by sending us an email request.

How Do We Secure Information Transmissions?
When you send confidential personal information to us on our website, a secure server software which we have licensed encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. The information is scrambled en route and decoded once it reaches our website.
Other email that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as Social Security, credit card, or account numbers to us through an unsecured email.

How Do We Protect Your Information?
Information Security -- We utilize encryption/security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction.
Evaluation of Information Protection Practices -- Periodically, our operations and business practices are reviewed for compliance with organization policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and quality of our information.
Employee Access, Training and Expectations -- Our organization values, ethical standards, policies and practices are committed to the protection of user information. In general, our business practices limit employee access to confidential information, and limit the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and transactions.

How Can You Access and Correct Your Information?
You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing us using the contact form provided to you within the site structure of our website.

Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties?
We may provide aggregate information about our customers, sales, website traffic patterns and related website information to our affiliates or reputable third parties, but this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this privacy policy.

What About Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information?
We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.

Permission to Use of Materials
The right to download and store or output the materials in our website is granted for the user's personal use only, and materials may not be reproduced in any edited form. Any other reproduction, transmission, performance, display or editing of these materials by any means mechanical or electronic without our express written permission is strictly prohibited. Users wishing to obtain permission to reprint or reproduce any materials appearing on this site may contact us directly.